Same course from 2 institutes possible - Facilitate Inter-College Transfer

[dhilipkumar]

Same course from 2 institutes possible

UGC Asks Univs To Start Choice-Based Credit System To Facilitate Inter-College Transfer

New Delhi: Asking universities to adopt a choice-based credit system, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said students enrolled for a particular programme or course would be free to opt and earn elective credits within their university and even in another institution.

    UGC chairperson Sukhdeo Thorat has written to VCs of central, state and deemed universities asking them to adopt the recommendations of the A Gnanam committee on academic and administrative reforms.
    These include introducing the semester system, examination reforms and inter-institution credit and transfer of students. Importantly, the UGC has linked implementation of these measures with grants.
    The committee has also said all academic programmes like certificate, diploma, undergraduate, postgraduate, M.Phil and Ph.D should be subject to upgradation or revision to a limited extent every academic year and substantially every three years.

    The UGC has also asked the varsities to introduce the choice-Based Credit System (CBCS) which will facilitate inter-institution transfer of students after completion of a semester. The CBCS will facilitate partcompletion of an academic programme in the institution of enrolment and part-completion in a specialised institution.  But to implement the CBCS, the committee said, institutions of higher education need to review curricular contents, term papers and assignments of various programmes. There will be provisions for corecredits and elective or optional credits for different levels of academic programmes. Core-credits would be unique to the programme, and earning them would be essential for the completion of the programme. Elective-credits are likely to overlap with other programmes or disciplines of study.
    As for the examination system, the panel said the traditional format has several limitations. On the other hand, the semester system encourages and supports faster learning opportunities. Further, it has the ability to accommodate diverse choices that students may like to have. "It is time that the semester system is made mandatory for all the institutions of higher education in India, and all the universities are asked to switch over to the semester system,'' it said.

    Curricular revision should be an ongoing academic activity involving all the faculty members. All academic programmes should be updated or revised to a limited extent every academic year and substantially every three years for all the courses, Thorat said. Updation and revision of the curricula is to be carried out in terms of current knowledge, national and international developments, and relevance of new ideas, concepts and knowledge to the concerned discipline. As a part of academic reform, institutions of higher education need to pay serious attention to the procedures for merit-based admission. The candidates' answer-sheets need to be assigned confidential codes before being sent for evaluation. Following admission, varsity and college authorities would initiate measures, depending upon the needpattern of newly admitted SC, ST, OBC, and minority students, to organise remedial or bridge-courses in language, communication and subjectcompetency.
    The assessment of student performance should be carried out through a combination of internal and external evaluation.

ACADEMIC REFORMS

UGC asks univs to introduce a semester system, exam reforms as suggested by the Gnanam panel
It has linked implementation of these measures with grants
Academic programmes like certificate and diploma courses should be subject to upgradation each year

TIMES NEWS